Launch from Cape Canaveral (KSC); landing on Edwards AFB.

First flight of two Germans at the same time. STS-61A holds the record for the largest crew: eight people, aboard any single spacecraft for the entire period from launch to landing.

Fourth mission of Spacelab (Mission D-1); 75 scientific experiments in materials science, fluid physics, biology, medicine (using a vestibular sled), communications and navigation were performed. The orbiter was controlled from the JSC, the scientific experiments from the German Space Operations Center in Oberpfaffenhofen near Munich.

An other mission assignment was to deploy the Global Low Orbiting Message Relay Satellite (GLOMR) out of a Getaway Special canister in the cargo bay. That was an experiment of the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DAPRA), US-Navy, to demonstrate the power of military sensors. The small Satellite was 60 cm in a diameter and weighted 52 kg.